10 Best War Movies Of 2023 (2024)

2023 was a fantastic year for movies, with several great war films of varying styles and periods released. War movies can offer some of the most thrilling, heart-wrenching narratives of any genre, as their violence often feels less contrived than that of a typical action movie. While not every one takes place on the battlefield, many of the best war movies do. They're a vital subgenre of historical fiction that explores humanity at both its bravest and its most vile.

War movies continue to evolve with changing times. Like with the Western, modern war movies tend to offer a more critical, revisionist approach that examines genre standards of the past. While there are still modern epics like 1917 and Dunkirk, these films tend to explore a darker and more realistic portrayal of war instead of the romanticized heroic adventure war films of the 20th century, which have lost their charm on younger viewers. Many of 2023's war movies are bloody, violent, or subversions of classics in the genre.

10 Blood & Gold

Directed by Peter Thorwarth

R

Action

War

Drama

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Release Date

May 26, 2023

Director

Peter Thorwarth

Cast

Robert Maaser , Jordis Triebel , Alexander Scheer , Juri Senft

Runtime

100 Minutes

While there are a lot of war movies that go for realistic and gritty depictions of these real-life battles, sometimes it's refreshing to see a take on the genre that is not concerned with being overly serious. Released on Netflix, Blood & Gold is a German film set at the end of World War II, where a defecting German soldier and a young woman cross paths with an SS troop in search of hidden gold in a small village.

It's one of the year's more intense, chaotic war dramas, with comparisons made to Inglourious Basterds for its graphic violence and dark sense of humor. However, those parallels are also part of the movie's overall problem as it never feels original. While Quentin Tarantino movies can often use inspiration from other movies to elevate themselves, Blood & Gold seems content with just being a lesser copy of superior movies.

9 Plane

Directed by Jean-François Richet

R

Action

Thriller

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Release Date

January 13, 2023

Director

Jean-François Richet

Cast

Gerard Butler , Mike Colter , Yoson An , Tony Goldwyn , Daniella Pineda , Kelly Gale

Runtime

107 minutes

Plane isn't a traditional war film, though it takes place on an island in the Philippines with an active rebel war occurring. Gerard Butler stars as a pilot of a commercial passenger plane that makes an emergency landing on an isolated island. While waiting for rescue, the passengers are taken hostage by a gang of deadly rebels. Butler is then forced to team up with a convict (Mike Colter) who was on the plane to rescue the rebels.

It's primarily an action movie, and its popularity at the box office was enough to earn it a sequel. It's not the most complex or inventive movie of the year, but it's undoubtedly a lot of fun and a decent action movie. Once again, Butler proves to be a terrific actor for the genre. However, his role this time is less of the action hero and more of a noble everyman who feels an immense sense of responsibility to protect his passengers.

8 One Life

Directed by James Hawes

PG

Release Date

March 15, 2024

Director

James Hawes

Cast

Anthony Hopkins , Helena Bonham Carter , Johnny Flynn , Lena Olin , Romola Garai , Alex Sharp , Jonathan Pryce

Runtime

110 Minutes

A war film that takes place far from the battlefield, One Life tells the story of Nicholas Winston, a British humanitarian whohelped Jewish children flee before the start of World War II. Told in two separate timelines, Johnny Flynn plays the younger Winston, who upon visiting Prague and seeing the staggering number of Jewish children fleeing the Nazis, sought to help as many as he could. Anthony Hopkins plays older Winston, who looks back on his life with regret and guilt about not having saved more.

The film premiered at TIFF in 2023 and was released in the United States in March 2024. Like Steven Spielberg's true war story Schindler's List, One Life is a reminder of the heroes of past wars who did not fight on the battlefields or pick up a weapon but saved lives while putting their own in danger. One Life is inspired by a viral clip of Winston meeting some of the children he saved, which is incorporated into the movie itself.

7 The Last Kingdom: Seven Kings Must Die

Directed by Edward Bazalgette

Action

Drama

History

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Release Date

April 14, 2023

Director

Edward Bazalgette

Cast

Alexander Dreymon , Harry Gilby , Mark Rowley , Arnas Fedaravicius , Cavan Clerkin , James Northcote , Laurie Davidson , Elaine Cassidy

Runtime

111 minutes

Though The Last Kingdom ended its five-season run in 2022, fans of the show were delighted to see it continued in movie form the following year. 2023 didn't have any sword-wielding war films besides The Last Kingdom: Seven Kings Must Die, which largely relies on the viewer having seen the TV series, concluding its story. The movie is set in the aftermath of King Edward's death as Uhtred (Alexander Greymon) leads his comrades on a mission to unite England at last.

Much of the acclaimed Netflix show's cast returns for the film, and Seven Kings Must Die is loosely based on actual historical events. The sequel is packed with gritty, visceral action, making for one of the year's bloodiest and most gruesome war movies. While entertaining, Seven Kings Must Die doesn't do much for those who haven't already been invested in The Last Kingdom.

6 The Covenant

Directed by Guy Ritchie

R

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Release Date

April 21, 2023

Director

Guy Ritchie

Cast

Jake Gyllenhaal , Dar Salim , Antony Starr , Alexander Ludwig , Sean Sagar , Bobby Schofield , Emily Beecham , Jonny Lee Miller

Runtime

123 Minutes

The closest example to a traditional war film in 2023 is Guy Ritchie's The Covenant. Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, the movie is set during the war in Afghanistan, exploring the bond between a soldier and an interpreter. Gyllenhaal plays John, a soldier who is saved by an Afghani interpreter, Ahmed (Dar Salim) who was working alongside the military. When John is sent home, he learns that Ahmed and his family have been left to fend for themselves against the Taliban and sets out to rescue them.

The Covenant is a thrilling, dramatic war movie about camaraderie that's been lauded for its realism and performances. While it's not the most inventive war film of 2023, it's an effective return to form for Guy Ritchie. It is an unusual movie from the director known mostly for his British crime comedies and blockbusters, but this is one of Ritchie's best movies to date. At the heart of The Covenant is the compelling bond between these two men who do not necessarily like one another but feel as though they owe something to each other.

5 The Creator

Directed by Gareth Edwards

PG-13

Release Date

September 29, 2023

Director

Gareth Edwards

Cast

John David Washington , Gemma Chan , Ken Watanabe , Sturgill Simpson , Allison Janney , Madeleine Yuna Voyles

The Creator is different from most war films of the year in that it's entirely fictional and futuristic. Still, the movie explores themes of war and nuclear annihilation, set in a dystopian setting where America is actively engaged in a conflict to eliminate artificial intelligence from the planet. John David Washington plays Joshua, a soldier who is tasked with destroying a new AI weapon only to find himself conflicted when he realizes it is a young sentient child.

The movie clearly draws from parallels of real-life war with a lot of the imagery evoking the feeling of the Vietnam War. It's one of director Gareth Edwards' best films, but The Creator falls short of being anything spectacular. It's an entertaining sci-fi war movie, but it lacks the substance of many of the year's strongest films despite its bright, thought-provoking subject matter.

4 The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial

Directed by William Friedkin

Drama

War

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Release Date

October 6, 2023

Director

William Friedkin

Cast

Kiefer Sutherland , Jason Clarke , Jake Lacy , Monica Raymund , Lance Reddick

Runtime

108 Minutes

William Friedkin is a filmmaker responsible for a number of classic movies, including The French Connection, Sorcerer, and The Exorcist. While The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial sadly marks his final movie before his death in 2023, it was a strong work to end his amazing career on. With a fantastic cast including Kiefer Sutherland, Jason Clarke, and the late great Lance Reddick, The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial makes for one of the best legal dramas of the year, centered around a Navy officer accused of mutiny.

It's a riveting, dialogue-driven film with stellar performances based on a classic Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. While not the grandest or most extravagant war movie of 2023, it's undoubtedly one of the most clever, letting the actors showcase their talents for nearly two hours. The sharp script is further elevated by Friedkin's masterful way of handling the single-setting story and making it interesting.

3 Napoleon

Directed by Ridley Scott

R

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Release Date

November 22, 2023

Director

Ridley Scott

Cast

Joaquin Phoenix , Vanessa Kirby , Ben Miles , Ludivine Sagnier

Runtime

158 Minutes

Ridley Scott has made some of the greatest war movies ever, from modern classics like Black Hawk Down to sword-and-sandal epics like Gladiator. He returns to the genre with Napoleon, a film about the life of the French general and emperor. As much as the movie has epic war sequences, Scott's biographical drama primarily focuses on the relationship between Napoleon Bonaparte and his first wife, Joséphine. Joaquin Phoenix portrays Napoleon as a weird and tragic man who, despite his great genius, success, and glory, can't command the respect of the person dearest to him.

With the post-Gladiator reunion of Scott and Phoenix to take on such an infamous historical figure as this, expectations for Napoleon were very high and there are many who felt it simply did not live up to them. However, there are some engrossing battle sequences and Phoenix turns in a performance that reminds the audience he is one of the most captivating actors of his generation. It is also rare to see a big historical epic in the hands of a filmmaker of this caliber in modern Hollywood.

2 The Zone Of Interest

Directed by Jonathan Glazer

PG-13

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Release Date

December 15, 2023

Director

Jonathan Glazer

Cast

Christian Friedel , Sandra Hüller , Ralph Herforth , Luis Noah Witte , Johann Karthaus

Runtime

105 Minutes

A24 has produced many of the year's best and most prestigious projects, and The Zone of Interest may be one of their most challenging films yet. The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May, where it was met with great acclaim, telling the story of Rudolf Höss, a German SS officer who was the longest-serving commandant at Auschwitz. It focuses on him and his family living their everyday life in a house built next to the infamous concentration camp.

The Zone of Interest probes the life of one of World War II's most notorious war criminals, prompting the audience to examine the monotony of his evil. It was nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars and ended up winning Best International Feature. Despite the fact that there is no real violence depicted on screen, it is one of the most chilling and unsettling movies of the year that manages to examine the horrors of war in a new and thought-provoking way.

1 Oppenheimer

Directed by Christopher Nolan

R

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Release Date

July 21, 2023

Director

Christopher Nolan

Cast

Cillian Murphy , Emily Blunt , Matt Damon , Robert Downey Jr. , Rami Malek , Florence Pugh

Runtime

150 Minutes

Oppenheimer was not only 2023's best war movie but also one of the best films of the year, widely celebrated critically and commercially. Though not a traditional war film, given its exploration into the Manhattan Project and the race to build the first atomic bomb, it's hard not to classify Christopher Nolan's epic in the war genre. Cillian Murphy gave an Oscar-winning performance as J. Robert Oppenheimer who, in the aftermath of his scientific achievement, was persecuted by those in power and filled with guilt over what he had done.

World War II movies have seen characters on both sides of the battlefield and political landscape. However, Oppenheimer broke ground in its examination of war technology and the drastic effect having nuclear weapons has had on humanity. On top of all that, it's a terrific character study with a phenomenal lead performance. In addition to Murphy's win, the movie won several other Oscars, including the top prize of Best Picture with Christopher Nolan also winning his first Academy Award as a director.

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